Spacecraft Program Lead

The Aerospace Corporation is the trusted partner to the nation’s space programs, solving the hardest problems and providing unmatched technical expertise. As the operator of a federally funded research and development center (FFRDC), we are broadly engaged across all aspects of space— delivering innovative solutions that span satellite, launch, ground, and cyber systems for defense, civil and commercial customers. When you join our team, you’ll be part of a special collection of problem solvers, thought leaders, and innovators. Join us and take your place in space.

The National Systems Group serves as the technical advisor to the Intelligence Community and its mission partners involved in the collection and distribution of national and tactical intelligence, including electronics programs, advanced technologies, ground and communications, imagery programs, and systems engineering and launch.

The Survivability and Resilience Office (SRO) of the Advanced Technology Division offers broadening opportunities to make a lasting impact on mission success in a rapidly evolving mission area that requires end-to-end integration, cross-organizational reach, has varying mission assurance and acquisition approaches, and spans R&D to major system acquisition. 

We are looking for a Spacecraft Program Lead (Senior Project Leader - Multi-Disciplinary Engineering) to lead Aerospace support for a new, resiliency focused Major Systems Acquisition program, and to lead customer engagement activities cultivating the leading edge of space resilience R&D technologies for implementation on future missions.  You will be the program lead for engaging Aerospace resources to support the build, integration, test, launch, and operations for a critical, space-based resilience MSA system.  You will engage directly with the Program Manager and customer team, ensuring Aerospace technical subject matter expertise, laboratory capabilities, and modeling & simulation capabilities are fully engaged to ensure mission success.  Additionally, you will support the Government’s resilience-based R&D efforts, helping to identify candidate technologies for maturation, supporting the maturation efforts, and facilitating transition to operational capabilities.

The selected candidate will be required to work full-time, on-site at our facility in Chantilly, VA.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Building, and leading, a high-impact, focused ETG team of subject matter experts addressing critical program technical issues in support of a Major Systems Acquisition program.

• Collaborating with program office, contractor, and ETG counterparts in a high-velocity environment to establish and execute an innovative, tailored mission assurance baseline for a hi-visibility, Major Systems Acquisition (MSA) program.

• Anticipating technical challenges and proactively coordinating critical support and potential risk mitigation strategies to the customer and contractor.

• Leading development / publication of periodic program Mission Assurance Reports detailing Aerospace contributions and highlighting programmatic risks.

• Leading system engineering activities related to CONOPS development, mission analysis for requirement compliance, and mission assurance activities to include: parts and materials assessment, reliability, fault management, V&V plans, Flight software and specialty engineering.

• Leading the identification, evaluation, and development of emerging technologies supporting the space resilience mission area

What You Need to be Successful

Minimum Requirements for the Senior Project Leader – Multi-Disciplinary Engineering:

• Bachelor of Science degree in engineering, science, or mathematics from an accredited institution

• 12 or more years of increasingly responsible professional engineering/scientific experience, including multi-disciplinary systems engineering and/or program management environments.

• Direct experience with National Security Space systems design, manufacture, integration and / or test with demonstrable results.

• Proven ability to collaborate with engineering resources to develop technical positions, provide risk assessments and formulate associated courses of action.

• Superior interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills.

• Demonstrated ability to work in a collaborative on-site office environment with the Government customer, SETA personnel, and prime contractor.

• Ability to support some routine travel.

• This position requires a current and active TS/SSBI/SCI security clearance and polygraph, which is issued by the U.S. government.  U.S. citizenship is required to